


2 Packs, 1 Town

by Stormlyht



Series: This Town That Loves Me [24]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: M/M, Plotting, Talking, This town loves Derek, planning, stiles not so much
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-24
Updated: 2015-03-24
Packaged: 2018-03-19 11:11:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3607968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stormlyht/pseuds/Stormlyht
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stiles gets Scott alone to talk about a lot of things, most importantly the fact that there are two packs in Beacon Hills, and they need to work together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	2 Packs, 1 Town

**Author's Note:**

> OMG! This is a labor of love guys, so I really hope you like it. It's just talking and it took me 3 days and I don't even know how many hours to write. I don't know why this was so difficult, but it just kept feeling like I wasn't getting their voices right and I sure hope I did okay in the end of things. This is something I actually reread several times and tweaked here and there. Not really an edit (have I *ever* done that on this story?) but if there are glaring errors please let me know because I just gotta get this up and leave it be.
> 
> Thank you all for your patience and love, and lovely comments! <3

Stiles stared at his games in frustration. He didn’t want to play any of them. The thing was he wanted to do nothing more than make the Alpha pack go away. None of his games would help him do that. Scott was coming over, and he’d be involved in a long discussion that usually happened while zombie killing or shooting people up. As Stiles glanced around his house, he realized none of that was happening tonight.

With a sigh he went upstairs and pulled out a three ring binder he hadn’t used in a few years, but still had paper in it. This wonderful addition to their lives had made one thing abundantly clear to him. Scott and Derek weren’t going to join forces and be one pack so they had to find a way to live with each other.

He heard the front door open as he looked for a couple of pens and Scott’s voice called up, “Stiles?”

“Yeah, I’ll be down in a minute!” Stiles called out. Finally finding the pens in question he grabbed one of each color and then left his room.

“You didn’t pick a game,” Scott called back. “You up for anything then?”

“No.” Stiles raced down the stairs and turned the corner to look at his best friend. He was about to do something very different. “I think we need to talk.”

“Yeah,” Scott nodded as he turned to look at Stiles. “That’s why I’m here.”

“No man, I mean like, we’re going to sit down at the table and write things down.” Stiles nodded a few times and then moved to the fridge. “Water?”

“We never sit down and talk,” Scott said slowly as he came over to stand next to Stiles. “Stiles,” his voice got serious and concerned. Stiles hated that tone, the way it would lower and slip across the room to wrap around him. It felt like disappointment even though Stiles knew it was just Scott being worried.

He closed the fridge with a sigh and looked at Scott. “Look, this thing, it’s bigger than we are. If we don’t figure out some serious, hard core things, I’m going to be mated to a sadistic bastard that might have sex with me while covered in Derek’s blood while you’re watching.” He hadn’t allowed himself to think about that possibility. Well, he hadn’t allowed himself to dwell on it. Actually, he hadn’t allowed himself to dwell so much he couldn’t get to sleep. Fuck, none of that was true. He took a shuddering breath as he felt his heart start hammering in his chest.

“Stiles,” Scott came over and took the three-ring and pens out of his hands. Setting them on the island he wrapped his arms around Stiles and held him close. “It’s going to be okay,” he said with that optimistic tone that drove Stiles crazy. How could anyone know that? What was it with Scott that made him feel so fucking certain that things would turn out alright?

“You don’t know that,” Stiles gasped, flinging his arms around Scott and holding him just as tightly. His arms were trembling and he closed his eyes on tears he refused to shed. “You can’t know that Scott. Deucalion is *scary*, and dangerous, and he’s gonna kill Derek! How do you know he won’t kill Derek!”

“Because we’ll have a plan,” Scott said firmly.

“*What* plan?” Stiles demanded without moving away. “You have no plan!”

“We’ll *get* a plan.”

“Yeah.” Now Stiles was nodding. One breath in, hold it for a second, one breath out. That’s how you do it. Plans, plans work, and Stiles was getting all his pieces into place. “We’ll get a fucking plan.” He took another breath in and pulled away to look at Scott. “We’re getting a motherfucking plan and it’s going to rock.”

Scott’s brows were furrowed as he stared back at Stiles. For a moment his eyes blinked gold, but then he nodded. “Yes. A plan. Do *you* have a plan?”

“I’m getting one. You’re going to be part of it. We have a lot to talk about.” Stiles took another deep breath, turned away from Scott and opened the fridge again. “I wish I had beer. No I don’t. I wish I wished I had beer.” He frowned. Did that sentence make sense?

“Get two iced teas. I’ll take this stuff to the table.”

*

“Derek actually *told* you he didn’t want you in the fight?” Scott asked incredulously. “Dude, does he *know* you?”

“Apparently not very well,” Stiles drawled out, pulling the pibbles off the side of the paper. At some point he’d stuffed spiral bound pages into the three-ring, so now he had something to do with his hands while he was talking. Each little bit of torn paper pulled from the edge.

“Oh that didn’t end well I assume,” Scott frowned as he leaned back. “So… what are you going to do?”

“Well I’ve asked Mr. Argent to outfit a bat for me,” he said evenly. He paused, waiting, but no outburst came from Scott. Looking up tentatively at his best friend, he saw Scott considering that.

“That’s not a bad idea,” Scott finally said and Stiles snorted.

“I know, right? Wish I’d thought of that long before now.” Stiles couldn’t believe they hadn’t. Mr. Argent wasn’t a horrible hunter person anymore, he might not be working *for* them, but he certainly wasn’t working *against* them either.

“Why didn’t we?” Scott asked, meeting Stiles’ gaze. Stiles snorted and grinned, and then Scott was laughing too.

“I have no idea,” Stiles finally said. “Anyway I don’t even have a full week to learn how to wield whatever he’s making for me so I hope it’s as easy as “find thing, hit” or something.”

“Mr. Argent *knows* you enough to know not to try to teach you something complicated,” Scott said firmly.

“Yeah, he tried to get me to agree to take in a gun, but… you know I always loved shooting with Dad, and I just can’t imagine trying to remember all the important parts while I’m watching two werewolves fight in a ring around me.” Stiles remembered Mr. Argent suggesting wolfsbane bullets, remembered the different types he’d suggested using. “It would just be too much I think.”

“Maybe when this is over…” Scott said gently, a small frown on his face. “You might consider it? You know, taking it up again, learning the trade, or at least learning stuff to help?”

“Maybe. I dunno, I’m not sure I want to do that. I think it’ll depend on how this goes. What he makes for me, you know?” Stiles shrugged. An upgraded bat would look like what exactly? He had no idea, but he couldn’t wait to find out. It was the only thing he was actually looking forward to for the moment.

“Okay, so besides the fact that you’re going to be in the ring and you’re going to have a weapon, what else is so important? You’ve got doom face on,” Scott said as he pointed to Stiles’ brows.

“I don’t have doom face,” Stiles protested, feeling his brows furrow even more. He tried to even them out but couldn’t quite do it.

“Yes you do, and you know it.”

“Fine, whatever. There’s a lot.” He took a deep breath in and held it, then let it out. “I’ve been thinking about what Derek said when he was determined to kill Lydia for being the kanima.”

“He said a lot of things,” Scott pointed out.

“Yeah, but he also said he knew why you wouldn’t join his pack. Because you were the Alpha of your own pack.” Stiles looked down at the pibbles and pulled some more off the paper.

“But I’m not an Alpha,” Scott protested.

“What if you are?” Stiles breathed. “What if, instead of *taking* the power from someone else, you’re *accepting* your role as Alpha, as Alpha of your own pack?”

“You’re not making sense,” Scott said.

“I am, if you think about it. Look, we talk about natural born leaders all the time, right? There are people who rise through the ranks of an organized system and gain their rank by doing what is expected of them. There are leaders to fight to get to a leader, chop their head off and assume their position. There are people who are born to a line of leaders and they are raised to take that role and do, and this is what I think normally happens in a family of werewolves like the Hales, by the way,” Stiles pointed out, pausing for the first time and looking back up at Scott. He seemed to be mostly following him, a frown on his face as he took in the barrage of words.

“You still with me?” he asked and when Scott nodded he went on. “Then there are those who don’t ask for the position. They are the people that see something needs done, and do it. They just take the position of leader, even if they don’t want it, because that’s their nature. Sometimes people say that person is a leader and they’re like, no, I’m not, it just happened, sometimes they just accept it, the point is,” Stiles paused for another breath. “The point is, there are some people who just become. And you do.” He shrugged. “You tried to listen to Derek and you failed, you learned what you could, and then you branched out. Allison fell in line behind you, accepting your leadership and giving you her strength. I’ve always been your friend, and sure I fight with you on how things are done, but ultimately you do what you think is right. Even fucking Jackson listened to you when you acted like you knew what you were doing. He didn’t like you, but he listened.”

Scott stayed silent through it all and then looked up at Stiles. “But that doesn’t mean I’m an Alpha. I have to kill an Alpha to take their power.”

“But you’re a leader of your own pack. Allison,” and Stiles paused when Scott shook his head.

“Allison isn’t in my pack, if I have one. She isn’t in this anymore,” Scott protested and Stiles rolled his eyes.

“I guarantee that if you told her you needed her she’d come running,” Stiles said.

“I…” Scott paused then shrugged with a small flush. “Okay, yeah, maybe.”

“I sent her the same text I sent you and she came right away, armed with bow and ready to take out whatever she needed to.” Stiles waved his phone in the air. “Do you need me to prove it?”

“So it was you she listened to.”

“It was me she was coming to protect, because I’m a friend, and because you are too. Will you just let me go on,” Stiles asked with a roll of his eyes.

“I just don’t think -“ Scott began but Stiles stared at him, hard, until Scott shut up. Having Scott as a best friend was sometimes work. Hard work.

“Allison is a strong arm, a fighter with you. I’m the strategist, when you let me be,” he glared at Scott, still not liking the fact that Scott had done that whole Gerard thing without even telling him. “Lydia… I don’t know what Lydia is yet,” he frowned. “Maybe the brains? A different kind of brains than I am? Anyway, my point here is… do you see what we all are?”

“A… pack?” Scott asked tentatively.

Stiles sighed and then nodded. “Yes Scott. A pack. Of *humans*!” he finally snapped. Scott wasn’t always this dense, he knew it. “So I don’t think that normal wolf stuff applies. Which is why I think you’re an Alpha, of your own pack. Since we aren’t bonded to you in the same way werewolves are, you get a different strength from us and it means you don’t have to take some Alpha’s power to be the apex of your pack.”

Scott nodded as he thought about that, and finally said, “So what’s your point then?”

“There’s two packs in Beacon Hills,” Stiles said. “Yours and Derek’s. I think, since it’s obvious you aren’t really going to join his pack, that you two need to come up with some communication that doesn’t involve snarling. Plus a plan of attack for working together during crisis. Which is what this is, but anyway.” He shook his head as he tried to stay focused on the plan at hand. “The thing is, I don’t want to come between the two of you, and I don’t want to have to do that stupid thing where a person is forced to choose between their lover and their family. That’s really ridiculous and so outdated and it doesn’t have to happen here.” He waved his arms around a few times and then shrugged. “I might not have made sense there.”

“You’re dating Derek,” Scott finally said after a moment.

“Yes,” Stiles nodded.

“No, I mean, that’s what you’re saying. You’re saying you’re dating Derek and you don’t want it to come between us. Or for us to come between you and Derek. Look, I’m not going to -“ Scott started but Stiles lifted a hand.

“Look, if you and Derek were working together in the first place this Alpha pack thing wouldn’t have been such a problem. I mean sure it would have *been* a problem but it wouldn’t have been the same. It would have been a different kind of problem.” Stiles ran a hand through his hair in frustration. “He needed our help, but he didn’t ask for it. We gave him help, and then he backed away and did that hiding thing he does when he tries to solve everything on his own. That means you were out of the loop, and you might have been able to help him out. Then there’s this Alpha Battle thing happening, and you don’t even know what it means, or what could happen, and what if instead of flailing around, he told you? He’s got so much knowledge that you could use, but he doesn’t share it because he’s afraid to.”

“He said that?” Scott asked. “He said he was scared to tell me things?”

“No man, but you can see it in him. He’s been burned by so many people, and now he’s also been burned by you, and he’s scared he’s going to do the wrong thing. If you and he had been working together then you would have shared your plan with him over Gerard and he would have let you help him do whatever it was he was doing with his pack over the alpha’s.” Stiles waved a hand. “When we helped him track his beta’s it worked out okay, right?”

“Yeah, but he was calling most of the shots,” Scott said with a shrug. “And I was mostly just trying to track them.”

“But it *worked*,” Stiles stressed. “And I’m not saying you should allow him to call all the shots, I’m saying I think we can work together, within our strengths, and not fight.” He held up the paper. “I think we can make a contract that the two of you could follow.”

“A contract?” Scott asked. He raised his eyebrows. “Really?”

“Yes. A treaty if that word sounds better. Where each of you say what you’re going to do for the town and in return you’ll both live here and there will be expectations. You’ll each have a function, and you won’t meddle in each other’s business.” Stiles had thought about it a lot over the last week. “And I can be the liaison between the two of you.”

“You’ll be the liaison?” Scott asked.

“That’s right,” Stiles nodded.

“You *want* to do that?” Scott pressed and Stiles narrowed his eyes.

“Why are you asking like that?” he asked suspiciously. Scott rarely pressed anything.

“What happens if you and Derek break up?” Scott asked. “I mean, it could happen, and if you do, and you’re the liaison between our two packs, then won’t there be some hard feelings there?”

“You think I’m incapable of holding my emotions in when dealing with negotiations?” Stiles asked.

“I think when you’re emotional that you tend to get…” Scott trailed off as he saw the glare Stiles was giving him. “Snappy,” Scott finished.

Stiles leaned back in his chair and looked over the tiny scraps of paper littering the dining room table and his hands fidgeting with the edges of the three ring. He sighed and brought his hand up to rub at the headache pressing at his head. “Yeah, I can be. So I’ll have to do this carefully. I’ll have to be an adult and deal with things in an adult like manner.” He looked back up at Scott. “Do you think I can’t do it?” It was time to ask, to bring Scott in emotionally to the conversation and see where that left them.

If the huge grin that Scott was giving him was any indication, Scott was completely on board. “Naw man, I think you’ll be perfect.” He got up and came over, giving Stiles another hug.

Stiles sank into it, this time from relief instead of frustration and fear. He held on tight and nodded his head. “I think we need to do this before the Alpha Battle, because there’s this thing with the beta’s of Derek’s pack I wanna talk to you about.”

“Okay,” Scott nodded, and as soon as Stiles pulled away he did as well. “No problem. We’ll talk.”

“Thanks man. I… don’t think I’d be sane right now if it wasn’t for you,” Stiles finally admitted.

“You’re my best friend, my brother in all ways that count,” Scott said. He sat down again and picked up the blue pen. “There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you.”

“So are you,” Stiles said. He caught Scott’s gaze. “And there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you either.”

“Except stop dating Derek?” Scott asked with a grin.

“You dick.” Stiles kicked him under the table, but he was grinning back. Things would be okay. Things would be okay. Things would be okay.

If he told himself that enough times, maybe it would be.


End file.
